By Daucy Crizer

Special to The News

BAYTOWN – Gavin Deslatte rushed for over 100 yards and backup quarterback Blake Bost led Port Neches-Groves to four second half scoring drives as the Indians opened District 12-5A Division II play with a 49-28 win over Baytown Lee on Friday night at Stallworth Stadium.

“Every week is going to be tough. There’s great coaches and players on every team,” said PNG coach Brandon Faircloth. “A win’s a win. It wasn’t pretty at times, but I’m really proud of our guys. They played through some adversity and coming out in the second half and scoring some points. The defense got some key stops. Baytown Lee is a good team and we’re fortunate to get out of here with a win.”

Deslatte led all rushers with 155 yards on 18 carries and scored a touchdown. Jaylon Williams rushed five times for 42 yards and a touchdown as the Indians ground attack accounted for 208 yards.

Senior quarterback Roshon Johnson, who left the game late in the first quarter with an undisclosed injury, led PNG on three first quarter touchdown drives, completing 8-of-8 passes for 158 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for a touchdown.

Bost started and played the entire second half, completing 7 of 8 passes for 78 yards and two touchdowns. He also had a rushing TD.

Grant Rogers completed 4 of 9 passes for 42 yards. For the night, the Indians passed for 284 yards and had 492 yards of total offense.

Jose Ceja and Kaleb Wuenschel were the top targets, no matter who was throwing the ball for the Indians. Ceja led the team with 142 yards receiving on eight catches and Wuenschel hauled in nine passes for 115 yards and a touchdown.

“In the second half, with Roschon out and putting sophomore Blake Bost in the game at quarterback, we wanted to open up the pass game with the run game,” said Faircloth of the potent ground attack, especially in the second half. “I was proud of our offensive line tonight. The tailbacks and fullback all did a great job tonight in moving the ball down the field.”

Leading 21-14 to start the second half, the Indians scored on their first possession of the third quarter. After stopping the Ganders on downs to open the quarter, Bost engineered a PNG scoring drive. He completed his first two passes, seven yards to Cade Billeaud and eight yards to Ceja.

A 29-yard run by Deslatte put the ball at the 11. Wuenschel took a shovel pass from Bost and raced seven yards for a touchdown to push the Indians lead to 28-14 with 7:12 left in the third quarter.

On Lee’s ensuing possession, quarterback Ijenea Wooley fumbled while scrambling, which was recovered by the Indians John Nichols at the Ganders 20. Williams took the handoff and raced 20 yards for a touchdown on the next play from scrimmage. That made the score 35-14 with 6:36 remaining in the third quarter.

Lee (2-2, 0-1) put together a scoring drive on its third possession of the quarter. Wooley hit JaKenan Davis for 11 yards. Three plays later, Jabier Quionnes raced around the left end for 47 yards and a touchdown to make the score 35-21 with 3:53 left in the quarter.

PNG (2-2, 1-0) answered right back with a scoring drive of its own. Bost hit Wuenschel for 10 yards and Deslatte rushed for 19 to put the ball at the Lee 40. Two consecutive penalties against the Ganders put the ball at the 20. Bost hit Brady Nail on a 20-yard scoring strike to put the Indians up 42-21.

The Ganders scored early in the fourth quarter to pull within 42-28 with 9:17 remaining in the game. Wooley hit Elijah Partida for a 17-yard touchdown in the left corner of the end zone.

The Indians answered with their final scoring drive of the night to put the game away. Bost hit Wuenschel for a 29-yard completion to the Lee 22. Williams rushed for 20 yards to the 2. Bost called his own number for a 2-yard TD run to make the score 49-28 with 5:38 remaining in the game.

Jacolby Smith-Barber intercepted Wooley on the Ganders next possession. The Indians were able to run out the final 5:08 to end the game.

Wooley finished the game completing 22 of 40 passes for a game-high 321 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for 53 yards on 15 carries and scored a TD. Motton was the top receiving target, catching 10 passes for 161 yards and a touchdown.

The Indians received the opening kickoff and drove straight down the field for the game’s first score. Consecutive runs of 22 and 12 yards by Deslatte put the ball at the Lee 29. Deslatte capped the 9-play, 70-yard drive with three consecutive runs, the last of which was a 1-yard plunge to give the Indians a quick 7-0 lead. Deslatte carried the ball six times for 51 yards on the drive.

After forcing a quick three-and-out by the Ganders, the Indians wasted little time in putting together another scoring drive. Johnson hit Wuenschel for a 51-yard completion that put the ball at the Ganders 2. Johnson called his own number two plays later on a 2-yard quarterback keeper to extend the Indians lead 14-0 with 4:39 left in the first quarter.

Lee turned the ball over on downs on its second possession of the game, moving the ball to the PNG 19 before tossing an incomplete pass on fourth-and-7.

The Indians picked right back up where they left off. Facing a first-and-25, Johnson hit Ceja for a 75-yard completion to the Lee 6. Johnson hit Ceja one play later on a 6-yard scoring strike in the back of the end zone to give PNG a 21-0 lead with 52 seconds left in the opening quarter.

The Ganders finally put together a scoring on their ensuing possession. Wooley scrambled for 12 yards to get the 13-play drive started. Wooley hit Davis for a 17-yard completion and followed with a 13-yard completion to Partida. Wooley capped the drive with a 12-yard touchdown scramble to make the score 21-7 with 7:33 left in the second quarter.

Grant Rogers replaced Johnson, who sustained an injury when he tossed the 6-yard touchdown pass to Ceja, at quarterback for the Indians first drive of the second quarter. He drove PN-G to the Lee 20, but that’s where the drive stalled and the Indians turned the ball over on downs when Rogers’ pass on fourth-and-6 was batted down at the line of scrimmage.

The Ganders put together their second straight scoring drive. Wooley hit Motton for a 50-yard completion to the PNG 33. Wooley and Motton connected again on a 28-yard scoring strike to make the score 21-14 with 2:46 left in the first half.

Port Neches-Groves 49, Lee 28
PNG 21 0 21 7 — 49
Lee 0 14 7 7 — 28

First quarter
PNG – Gavin Deslatte 1 run (Mario Oceguera kick), 7:49
PNG – Roschon Johnson 2 run (Oceguera kick), 4:39
PNG – Jose Ceja 6 pass from Johnson (Oceguera kick), 0:52
Second quarter
Lee – Ijenea Wooley 12 run (Andy Flores kick), 7:33
Lee – Montrel Motton 28 pass from Wooley (Flores kick), 2:46
Third quarter
PNG – Kaleb Wuenschel 7 pass from Blake Bost (Oceguera kick), 7:12
PNG – Jaylon Williams 20 run (Oceguera kick), 6:36
Lee – Jabier Quionnes 47 run (Flores kick), 3:53
PN-G – Brady Nail 20 pass from Bost (Oceguera kick), 1:16
Fourth quarter
Lee – Elijah Partida 17 pass from Wooley (Flores kick), 9:17
PNG – Bost 2 run (Oceguera kick), 5:38

PNG Lee
First downs 17 19
Rushes-yards 30-208 26-132
Passing yards 284 321
Total yards 492 453
Comp-Att-Int 19-25-0 22-40-1
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 3-1
Penalties-Yards 5-60 11-94

Individual statistics
RUSHING — PNG, Gavin Deslatte 18-155, Jaylan Williams 5-42, Blake Bost 4-13; Lee, Ijenea Wooley 15-53, JaKenan Davis 8-31, Jabier Quionnes 3-48.
PASSING — PNG, Roschon Johnson 8-8-0—158, Blake Bost 7-8-0—78, Grant Rogers 4-9-0—42, Blake Bost 0-2-0—0; LEE, Ijenea Wooley 22-40-1—321.
RECEIVING — PNG, Jose Ceja 8-142, Kaleb Wuenschel 9-115, Brady Nail 1-20, Cade Bileaud 1-7; Lee, Montrel Motton 10-161, JaKenan Davis 5-52, Elijah Partida 4-41.